BROADCASTING: RTÉ unions have warned the Government that the future of the partnership process at the State broadcasting company is under threat if it does not address the problem of the licence fee. They are setting up a campaign targeting all the candidates in the forthcoming general election to seek their support for better-funded public service broadcasting.
The group of unions held a press conference yesterday after a mass meeting of RTÉ staff at Montrose, where campaign packs were handed out. The packs included postcards that could be sent to the main political parties headquarters and a list containing the names and addresses of all sitting TDs.
Mr Eoin Ronayne, the assistant general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said his only regret about the campaign was that it had not been introduced much earlier. There was widespread disillusion among the unions with the Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera.
SIPTU broadcasting branch secretary Mr Jimmy Jordan said the Minister had failed to give any leadership or say what she wanted from RTÉ.
At a recent meeting with the unions, Mr Jordan said he asked the Minister what she wanted "and she said it was 'not for me to tell RTÉ what to do' ".
Mr Ronayne described the meeting as "most unproductive. She seems to think the screws have to be tightened further, and that can only mean tightening the screws on the workers, but we don't believe there are any more changes we can embrace."
Mr Jordan said, as far as the unions were concerned, a deal had been done on a transformation plan two-and-a-half years ago, involving the unions, RTÉ and the Government. This involved shedding 450 jobs and radical changes in work practices, in return for significant increases in the licence fee.
"We have delivered on every job we were asked to, we delivered on every work practice we were asked to. The only thing that hasn't been delivered on is the licence fee."
The secretary of the RTÉ group of unions, Mr J.P. Coakley, said the Minister had now set up a forum to carry out another review of RTÉ, although there had been nine consultants' reports in the past two years.
He also said consultants had recommended a licence fee increase of £22.50 (€28.6) if RTÉ was to maintain its output but the Minister had only granted an increase of £14.50.
When the current fee of £84.50 was converted to the euro it was rounded down by 30 cents to €107, losing RTÉ €300,000 a year in revenue. He said the level of licence evasion at 11 per cent would also add to the current shortfall.
All the unions rejected the idea of selling off the Montrose site and moving elsewhere. Even if a substantial profit was made it would not be a solution to the underlying problem of current revenue shortfalls.
A spokesman for the Minister said the increase of £14.50 in the TV licence fee last July was an interim one.
A further increase would be considered next April, if certain conditions were met.
The Minister had made it clear the Government would consider the issue at any time before next April once the conditions have been met in full.
Last July, Ms de Valera said RTÉ costs must be reduced in line with the RTÉ transformation agreement. T
here also had to be a clear demonstration that additional funds would lead to real improvements in services before any further increases were contemplated.
